The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an assessment of the skills and knowledge of 15-year-olds in science, reading literacy and mathematics. It is an initiative of the
Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). PISA takes place every three years. The first PISA cycle was implemented in 2000 and PISA 2022 is the eighth iteration of the study. In each cycle, one domain is designated a major domain, and the remaining domains function as minor domains. In PISA 2022, mathematics was the major assessment domain, while science and reading literacy were minor domains. An international consortium, led by Educational Testing Service (ETS) in United States, was responsible for the implementation of PISA.
The usual pattern of the PISA cycle was interrupted in this iteration, as the planned implementation of the Main Study in 2021 was delayed by one year to 2022 due to disruptions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.
A further change in administration took place in Ireland, with Main Study data collection taking place in autumn instead of springtime. In response to reports of a crowded school calendar in springtime, and in an attempt to reduce the burden on schools, the decision was made to move main study testing to the autumn time. This means that data were collected a year and a half later than originally planned, and four and a half years since data were collected in the 2018 cycle of PISA.
This was the third cycle in which testing was administered principally on computer. Following the 2018 cycle, in which adaptive testing was introduced for the first time, in 2022 two domains (reading and mathematics) incorporated a multi-stage adaptive testing design (MSAT). PISA 2022 was administered in 81 participating countries/economies, including 37 OECD countries,
with tests and questionnaires completed by 690,000 students internationally. In Ireland, 5569 students in 170 schools took part, with the majority of participants in Transition Year and Third Year, with smaller proportions in the remaining years.
The OECD has published an assessment framework (2023a), and a technical report is also expected to be released in early 2024 (OECD, in press). Two volumes on the main outcomes of PISA 2022 will be published simultaneously with the launch of the results: PISA 2022 Results (Volume 1): The State of Learning and Equity in Education (OECD, 2023c), PISA 2022 Results (Volume 2): Resilient Systems, Schools and Students (OECD, 2023d).
This report, which provides an overview of the main outcomes of PISA 2022 in Ireland, is the first in a series of national reports based on the 2022 data, and will be followed by short, thematic reports on the themes of mathematics, learning in the pandemic, well-being and home environment, and creative thinking.
This report is divided into seven chapters. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the PISA 2022 cycle, and describes its implementation in Ireland. Chapter 2 summarises previous PISA performance in Ireland, and looks at the broader research and policy context. Chapters 3, 4, and 5 describes Ireland’s achievement in PISA 2022 in the domains of mathematics, reading and science respectively, and link performance to background characteristics such as ESCS, gender and immigrant status. Chapter 6 reports on students’ experiences of learning during the school closures associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. A summary and conclusions are presented in Chapter 7
